Home favourite Colin Minter was among the winners at the 33rd international veterans tournament in Frinton.

He triumphed in the men's singles over-55s category with a one-sided 6-1, 6-1 success against Australian Laurence Le-Roy.

It was a special moment for the Frinton ace, who also won the men's over-55 doubles in tandem with Graham Goodall.

Fellow Frinton player Ken Bate battled through to the final of the over-70s category but went down 6-3, 6-3 to Suffolk's Dave Garman.

However, the pair joined forces to win the men's over-70s doubles.

Frinton club manager Kim Willetts told the Gazette: "The courts played amazingly well, despite all the rain that had gathered on them in recent weeks.

"At one point a while back there were big question marks about whether our competitions could take place this summer, but thankfully there were no problems and we managed to complete every event - with the finals taking place on Saturday."

There was plenty of high-quality tennis as 194 players from 12 countries competed in the prestigious event at the Holland Road ground.

The stakes were high as ITF world-ranking points were up for grabs and American James Slonac beat defending champion and number one seed Danny Ward in the men's over-35s event, 6-3, 6-2.

Nigel Mann beat Gary Payton 3-6, 7-6, 10-5 in a men's over-45 thriller, while Essex player Neil Taylor - the number one seed - enjoyed a 6-3, 6-3 victory against Brian Roberts in the over-50s.

Cambridgeshire's number two seed Bob Harrower won the over-60s, beating Graham Birch 6-2, 6-2, and American Richard Klein, from New Mexico, was victorious against Brian Brown in the over-65s (6-0, 6-4).

In the men's over-75s, Charles Hassell squeezed past Derek Croll 6-7, 6-3, 11-9, while Hampshire's Brian Coyne won the round-robin event for over-80s.

Local favourites reached the latter stages of the ladies' events.

Colchester's Julie Sexton made it to the over-40s final, but lost out to Jo Bond.

Jill Crown, also from Colchester, won the over-50s competition after a 6-3, 6-3 success against Gwyneth Hartnett, while Jill Felstead - from Frinton - lost 6-2, 7-6 in the final to Willy Baks, from the Netherlands.

Anne Williams, from Kent, beat Pauline Barnett in the over-70s event, 7-5, 6-1.

Crown enjoyed a second success in the over-50s mixed doubles when she triumphed alongside brother Nick.

Next up at Frinton is the men's $15K and ladies' $10K Futures event, which will take place this week, with the finals being staged on Saturday.